Gumiho's hair, along with her eyes, began glowing with an ethereal pink. Another tail unfurled behind her, and her feet left the ground as she rose higher than the arena, standing above all.
Hundreds of plum blossoms flew around her, covering her body like clothes.
The fox spirit that had erged from the zade box bent her knees, bowing in the presence of true sovereign.
My ghostly presence, which was tied to Gumiho, involuntarily followed her into the air.
What truly amazed at that ti was the sight beyond the arena: hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the streets. Although such an enormous crowd should have thrown the entire city into chaos, the city was utterly mute.
The children bowed. The adults bowed. The elderly bowed. Bowed the commoners, the nobles bowed.
The Goddess of all Beasts had awakened. Who would dare raise their head in the presence of divinity?
I was awestruck. No words left my mouth. My mind was fully srized in that one in a lifeti mont.
The sight was heavenly, but it didn't last for long. Perhaps because Gumiho was too young or too ntally exhausted, the aura around her diminished, and she began falling to the ground.
My vision blackened as Gumiho fainted, and the next mont, when it returned, I was in an eerie dark room with only a single lantern glowing from the ceiling.
As my eyes lowered, I saw sothing I had never expected in a million years.
Gumiho was lying on an inclined stone slab. Her limbs were fixed to the stone with nails piercing through her skin.
The blood leaking from her little palms and legs where the nails were struck was being collected in a container below the slab.
"What kind of monstrosity is this?" I muttered in a low voice. "Who could be so sick in their mind to commit this kind of atrocity to a barely five-year-old kid?"
And the very next mont, my question was answered as the stone door of the room opened with a sliding motion.
A figure with a humped back erged and walked inside with the support of a stick in his right hand.
"So this perverted bastard is behind this," I muttered, clenching my fists.
"Have you awakened, U?" the old man asked as he reached closer to her. "How are you feeling? Tell if you feel uncomfortable, alright?"
Gumiho's lips shivered and her barely open eyes flinched with the pain she was suffering. Yet forget about screaming—her body didn't even have the strength to mutter a word.
He reached closer to Gumiho and touched her tails as he spoke further, "So the ancient texts left by the first Head of the Fox clan were actually true.
Are you curious about what happened after you fainted? I will tell you if you will be a good girl and remove this."
He pointed at the petals that covered Gumiho's upper and lower privates.
Gumiho's eyes twitched with horror. She tried to move, but the nails held her back, leaking more blood from her limbs. She groaned in pain as tears rolled from her eyes.
"Oh, what happened, dear? Why are you crying? All right, all right . I will tell you everything, so stop crying, okay?
You might not know this, but there is a tradition in the fox clan. Whenever a new Head is selected, along with the authority of the clan a sacred scripture written by the first Head is also passed down.
Most of the text was him blabbering about how to be a wise Head, to put the subjects before yourself, and all other useless teachings. I only read it because the previous Head threatened that he wouldn't pass the Absolute Decree unless I read it. However, it pleases greatly that I did.
Halfway through the text he ntioned sothing interesting. It said that, over hundreds of millennia ago, Vyoman wasn't ruled by humans, demons, or beasts. It was a territory of Gods — and not just one; there were several gods living here under a one true god nad #£&$*."
His voice censored and I couldn't hear the na of the god he ntioned. I didn't give it much thought and listened as he continued, "And this land, the territory of the beasts, was ruled by one of the higher goddesses called the eight-tailed fox. She was also the one who blessed the animals and turned them into intelligent beasts. She promoted her most favoured beast, a fox, into her private servant who later beca the Head of the Fox clan.
She had millions of beasts under her control, thousands of years of lifespan, and unfathomable powers — and yet she wasn't satisfied. She wanted to reach even higher: a stage that could rival the might of a true god. And she did find a way to reach it. It could be attained if she managed to grow one more tail. She gave an amusing na to this nine-tailed form. It was called Gumiho.
But the heavens were opposed to having one more true god in Vyoman. She failed to beco Gumiho and lost her entire lifespan.
Do you wonder why I am telling you this story?
Because on her deathbed she called her favourite beast, the fox, and told him that in the far future she would be reincarnated again as a fox-beast. She gifted him a crimson zade box which contained her spiritual power to gain absolute authority over the fox clan.
"The first Head decreed in his scriptures that all his successors must pay heed to the beast born with two tails and faded red hair and eyes. He ordered that if we found anyone with the given description, we must pay them our utmost respect and fulfil their every demand."
The Ancestor slowly circled around Gumiho and spoke further, "As I finished the scripture, I concluded that the first Head was just a lowly servant and didn't know any better. Why should we bow before this goddess and beco her puppet? And at that mont a thought ca into my mind...
What would happen if I were to devour the core of this goddess when she is still immature? Wouldn't I beco a god as well? And moreover I won't go against heavens by becoming a true god."
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